Chest Pain, Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk, and Cardiology Referral in Primary Care.

Background: The atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) 10-year risk estimate is recommended by cardiologists for determining risk of a cardiac event. However, the majority of patients presenting to primary care with chest pain have noncardiac etiologies. Therefore, we determined if high versus low ASCVD risk was associated with primary care physicians' referral to cardiology in patients with and without chest pain.